Pharma companies close on the heels of Pfizer with RFID
Latest reports say that many pharmaceutical companies are following the footsteps of Pfizer to develop RFID tags for their drugs. Pfizer set a landmark in pharma history with RFID tag on its well known ED drug Viagra, closely followed on its heels by Purdue Pharma, the producer of OxyContin.
Peggy Staver, the spokesperson of Pfizer mentioned in a press release that the company has already put in $ 5 million to track inventory, using RFID technology. This might come as a surprise looking at Viagra's poor sales of $1.6 billion last year. However business analyst says that it is an investment for Pfizer, as it loses out huge revenue to fake Viagra.
IBM, Intel corp. and Symbol Technologies are a few of the software companies that are developing RFID tags for the pharma industry. Taking into account the market scenario, where counterfeiters get away easily with paper identification to make fake drugs, RFID tags are given paramount interest by the companies. The software companies refused to give out identity of their clients; however inside sources say that many are in their final stages of development. Many pharma companies also have shown interest to take part in the open forum on RFID, which the FDA is organizing on February 8.
Despite the huge budget involved in using RFID technology, the pharma companies are going for it lock, stock and barrel. They are convinced of getting big returns through inventory tracking and vigilant measures for patient safety.
Source: CNNMoney.com, January 26, 2006 |
